Baghdad (Agenzia Fides) - The towns and villages of the Nineveh Plain once inhabited by Christians, after three years of jihadist occupation, try to start all over again also thanks to the generous and concrete support of foreign organizations and volunteers, eager to help Iraqi Christians in this difficult historical phase. But a real rebirth will only be possible if the local populations free themselves from the attitude of those who constantly complain and remain passive, "waiting to receive everything from the State and charitable organizations". This is the call that Chaldean Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako wanted to address to all the faithful in his Church, taking inspiration from events and situations that he himself experienced in his recent visits to Mosul and several villages of the Nineveh Plain. In a brief report, released by the official media of the Patriarchate, the Primate of the Chaldean Church expresses his gratitude for the volunteers of mostly French organizations - such as SOS Chrétiens d'Orient and Fraternité en Iraq - who "are working hard in the Nineveh Plain despite the harshness of the climate, while our communities suffer from frustration and a sense of void, and many are complaining, criticizing and showing the amount of money they need, sometimes without even thanking those who are helping them".
Patriarch Sako, in his contribution, suggests that all put aside wrong habits and attitudes, and to be inspired by the hardworking dynamism in which the charity of volunteers is manifested, also engaged in the reconstruction of houses and churches damaged or destroyed during the years of jihadist occupation. The gratuitousness of volunteers - the Patriarch notes - can help everyone to take on their responsibilities and to take spontaneously initiatives for the reinstatement of social life in the towns and villages of the Nineveh Plain, in the knowledge that no external aid will in itself be sufficient to allow inhabited centers left for three deserted years, during the occupation of the militia of the self-proclaimed Islamic state to reflourish. (GV) (Agenzia Fides 20/6/2017).